Iron Eyes Cody

Cody was born Espera Oscar de Corti on April 3, 1904, in the city of Kaplan, Vermilion Parish, Louisiana. He was the second son of Francesca Salpietra of Sicily and her husband, Antonio de Corti of southern Italy.^[4] He had two brothers, Joseph and Frank, and a sister, Victoria.^[2] His parents had a local grocery store in Gueydan, Louisiana, where he grew up.^[5] His father left the family and moved to Texas, where he took the name Tony Corti. His mother married Alton Abshire and had five more children with him.^[2]

When the three de Corti brothers were teenagers, they joined their father in Texas and shortened their last name from de Corti to Corti. Cody's father, Tony Corti, died in Texas in 1924.^[4] The brothers moved on to California, where they were acting in movies, and changed their surname to Cody.^[6] Joseph William and Frank Henry Cody worked as extras, then moved on to other work. Frank was killed by a hit-and-run driver in 1949.^[4]

Cody began acting in the late 1920s. He worked in film and television until his death. Cody claimed his father was Cherokee and his mother Cree,^[3] also naming several different tribes, and frequently changing his claimed place of birth. To those unfamiliar with Indigenous American or First Nations cultures and people, he gave the appearance of living as if he were Native American, fulfilling the stereotypical expectations by wearing his film wardrobe as daily clothing—including braided wig, fringed leathers and beaded moccasins—at least when photographers were visiting, and in other ways continuing to play the same Hollywood-scripted roles off-screen as well as on.^[2][4]

Cody also appeared in over a hundred television programs.^[7]

Cody was widely seen as the "Crying Indian" in the "Keep America Beautiful" public service announcements (PSA) in the early 1970s.^[8] The environmental commercial, first aired on Earth Day in 1971, depicted Cody in a Plains Indians/Hollywood Indian-style costume, shedding a tear after trash is thrown from the window of a car and it lands at his feet. The announcer, William Conrad, says: "People start pollution; people can stop it."^[9] The ad won two Clio awards, is believed to have led to increased community involvement, and may have "helped reduce litter by 88% across 38 states", according to one source.^[7]

The Joni Mitchell song "Lakota", from the 1988 album, Chalk Mark in a Rainstorm, features Cody's chanting.^[10] He made a cameo appearance in the 1990 film The Spirit of '76.^[11]

In 1936, Cody married archaeologist Bertha Parker (Abenaki and Seneca descent). She was active in excavations during the late 1920s and early 1930s before becoming an assistant in archaeology at the Southwest Museum.^[12] The couple had two sons, Robert Tree Cody and Arthur Cody, and remained married until Bertha's death in 1978.^[3]

The non-Native public who knew Cody from his work in film and television thought of him as a Native American. In 1996, however, The Times-Picayune in New Orleans reported that he was a second-generation Italian-American from Louisiana and that his Native American identity was self-created. The report was based on an interview with Cody's half-sister and on various documents, including a baptismal record. Cody, who wore his Hollywood costumes in his daily life, denied the report.^[3][4][9]

Cody died at the age of 94 from mesothelioma at home in Los Angeles on January 4, 1999.^[3] Before death, he had written this comment: "Make me ready to stand before you with clean and straight eyes. When life fades, as the fading sunset, may our spirits stand before you without shame."^[7]

On April 20, 1983, Cody was inducted to the Hollywood Walk of Fame at 6601 Hollywood Boulevard.^[5]

In 1999, a Golden Palm Star on the Palm Springs, California, Walk of Stars was dedicated to Cody.^[13]

• Cody, Iron Eyes (1991) [1970]. Indian Talk: Hand Signals of the American Indians. Illustrator: Ken Mansker (First (hardcover) ed.). Healdsburg, California: Naturegraph Publishers. ISBN 0-911010-82-3. OCLC 112881.

• Chief Thundercloud
• Grey Owl
• Jamake Highwater
• Pretendian
• Rachel Dolezal
• Red Thunder Cloud
• Reel Injun
• Sacheen Littlefeather
• Buffy Sainte-Marie